Dads who think they're funny UNITE!

Apparently, Not Boyfriend and I have the same dad. You know, the dad who thinks it’s funny to give his kids gag gifts at Christmas? We were talking about Christmas memories the other night and I told him about how my dad used to delight in giving me canned peas every Christmas. I HATE canned peas, and he knows this, and so he would always wrap them up really nicely and sometimes there would be a poem with it and one time he decorated it with Cabbage Patch Kids stuff. At first I thought it was stupid, but after a while I sorta looked forward to what he’d come up with. A couple of times he would try really hard to figure out what I got him and then get me the exact same gift – and then make me open mine first. Luckily I have a strong psyche, because that type of stuff is damaging to a kid, DAD! However, I must say that he more than made up for that all of the times he built me beautiful things like a baby cradle and the coolest refrigerator and oven set EVER.
Not Boyfriend told me that one year he asked for a motorcycle and his dad actually got him one, however it was in pieces, and he had to build it himself, piece by piece. It took him two years and by the time it was finished, he was too big to ride it. Then there was the time he asked for a new fly rod and his dad brought down the case that fly rods come in and when Not Boyfriend opened it up, it was a bunch of sticks duct taped together with some fishing line and a hook attached. He said he was totally bummed and his dad played it out for a couple of hours until he finally gave in and brought down the real rod. Heh.
These days I get things like a one million piece car emergency kit or a cordless drill (I think Dad’s motto when it comes to tools is “ask and you shall receive” so I always ask for tools) but I always know that I’ll get something uniquely Dad. He is that dad who will shop until the very last second on Christmas Eve, but by golly, he’ll have picked out your gift himself. And it’s always something that shows that he knows me and knows what I like. I love that about him. Luckily, he’s the best dad every day of the year, even when he’s pulling stupid Christmas-related practical jokes. And strangely enough? I sorta miss the peas…